In an upcoming interview with ABC's
Barbara Walters, the 56-year-old media mogul says she's “not even
kind of a lesbian.”

“I'm not a lesbian,” she says in
the special. “I'm not even kind of a lesbian.”

Winfrey goes on to say that persistent
rumors that she and gal pal Gayle King are lovers annoy her because
it means “somebody must think I'm lying.”

“Why would you want to hide it? That
is not the way I run my life.”

Winfrey called King “the mother I
never had … the sister everybody would want … the friend that
everybody deserves.” (The video is embedded in the right panel of
this page.)

A new source of speculation appeared in
April, when Kitty Kelly released Oprah: A Biography.

In the 544-page book, long-time friend
and author Erica Jong is quoted having said: “I would not be
surprised if Oprah is gay. If she is, she is. It certainly fits.”

“[Oprah boyfriend] Stedman is
probably gay or neutral, but they have a bond,” Jong added. “Her
being gay would be the right reaction to the sexual abuse she says
she's suffered and the mistrust she's always had of men.”

Appearing in 2009 on the The Howard
Stern Show, openly lesbian comedian-actress Rosie O'Donnell said,
“I think they [Winfrey-King] are the emotional equivalent of a gay
couple.”

A Barbara Walters Special: Oprah,
The Next Chapter airs Thursday at 9PM.